MMO recommendations?

Masked Gentleman

Hey, everyone! So, this is a pretty simple thread. I'm just looking for suggestions on a good MMO. I'm looking for pretty much any type, RPG or shooter of some sort. Free to play or pay to play, either is fine. So, what's a good MMO, and why is it good?

Gigazombie Cybermage

If you're tired of Fantasy MMO's I would definitely try City of Heroes and/or DC Universe Online. Creating your own super hero is just awesome. With City of Heroes you can basically make whatever you want. One of my main's is an undead cowboy. DC Universe is a bit more restrictive, but you get to interact within the DC universe itself. It also looks a hell of a lot better than CoH, though CoH isn't -bad- looking in my opinion.

Evermourn

World of Tanks, if you like WW2 tech. Especially good if you don't have a good internet connection since it's not twitch-based. You can play for free to get a taste for it, but if you get into it seriously it's a bit painful to play without putting some small amount of cash in. I started playing about 5 months ago, and keep coming back to it.

buddylee

Here's mine:

for superheroes, like Cyber said, COX and / or DCUO are both good F2P options. Of the two, COX has much more to do, and I think the villain side is more interesting than the hero side, as well. The DCUO environments are amazing, however. Gotham (and Metropolis) are just so well done. Unlike COX, you earn your costume more through gameplay drops than at character creation. Between the two, I feel more heroic (able to kick booty) in COX. My Force Field/Energy Blast Defender (don't laugh) honestly can kick out some decent damage, take on ungodly amounts of foes, and still walk away (reality check: it DID take a lot of work, "gear" and leveling). in DC i feel heroic, but not cosmic. If that makes sense.

for fantasy, i recommend EQ2 (as a paying customer, but you can check it out for free these days). Literally so much to do: dungeons, raids, crafting (the good kind, I like it), collection hunts, exploration, questing (often with good dialog trees), house decorations, RP (depends on server), etc. More content than you can experience in one shot. Huge world. Large numbers of classes interesting classes, etc. Go Antonia Bayle server (RP server) or Freeport server (former F2P server) for good populations and friendly people.

Also, RIFT is pretty good and nice to look at, but once you finish the ride up to 50, its all grinding for raid gear, and not in a good way, as you are limited to a small handful of dungeons. PvP is in permaflux, so if that's your thing, run with a pre-made or don't bother at all. The other thing about RIFT that bothers me is that because you can swap roles and abilities so freely, you just feel a bit generic. There is very little flavor, fun or utility in the classes (ie, levitate, water breathing, glowing aura, feign death, tracking, run speed, safe fall, stealth, etc). Its there, but in tiny small portions. It all ends up feeling rather generic (or so I felt on my 44 rogue). Also RIFT lacks other thigns I like, such as guild halls/housing, but they do have collections, and they also have the 'chaos' of the RIFTs, which are fun, but not a major game-breaker in terns of 'OMG, GOTTA PLAY'. They add unpredictability, but are also at the same time, a little predictable. If that sounds wierd, it is, but its true.

Riale

If you've enjoyed any previous Bioware games such as the Mass Effect or KOTOR series I can't recommend The Old Republic highly enough. It's essentially another classic Bioware game, except massively multiplayer. Of course, this is also contigent on how much of a Star Wars fan you are. Either way, the addition of story to the tired MMO formula has completely spoiled me. Since playing SWTOR I don't think I could handle going back to playing any other MMO. Without the attachment of story, it's just not the same.

lowlylowlycook

Riale wrote:

If you've enjoyed any previous Bioware games such as the Mass Effect or KOTOR series I can't recommend The Old Republic highly enough. It's essentially another classic Bioware game, except massively multiplayer. Of course, this is also contigent on how much of a Star Wars fan you are. Either way, the addition of story to the tired MMO formula has completely spoiled me. Since playing SWTOR I don't think I could handle going back to playing any other MMO. Without the attachment of story, it's just not the same.

If he liked Mass Effect but not Star Wars he could always roll a Female Trooper.

Fandyien

buddylee wrote:

Here's mine:

for superheroes, like Cyber said, COX and / or DCUO are both good F2P options. Of the two, COX has much more to do, and I think the villain side is more interesting than the hero side, as well. The DCUO environments are amazing, however. Gotham (and Metropolis) are just so well done. Unlike COX, you earn your costume more through gameplay drops than at character creation. Between the two, I feel more heroic (able to kick booty) in COX. My Force Field/Energy Blast Defender (don't laugh) honestly can kick out some decent damage, take on ungodly amounts of foes, and still walk away (reality check: it DID take a lot of work, "gear" and leveling). in DC i feel heroic, but not cosmic. If that makes sense.

for fantasy, i recommend EQ2 (as a paying customer, but you can check it out for free these days). Literally so much to do: dungeons, raids, crafting (the good kind, I like it), collection hunts, exploration, questing (often with good dialog trees), house decorations, RP (depends on server), etc. More content than you can experience in one shot. Huge world. Large numbers of classes interesting classes, etc. Go Antonia Bayle server (RP server) or Freeport server (former F2P server) for good populations and friendly people.

Also, RIFT is pretty good and nice to look at, but once you finish the ride up to 50, its all grinding for raid gear, and not in a good way, as you are limited to a small handful of dungeons. PvP is in permaflux, so if that's your thing, run with a pre-made or don't bother at all. The other thing about RIFT that bothers me is that because you can swap roles and abilities so freely, you just feel a bit generic. There is very little flavor, fun or utility in the classes (ie, levitate, water breathing, glowing aura, feign death, tracking, run speed, safe fall, stealth, etc). Its there, but in tiny small portions. It all ends up feeling rather generic (or so I felt on my 44 rogue). Also RIFT lacks other thigns I like, such as guild halls/housing, but they do have collections, and they also have the 'chaos' of the RIFTs, which are fun, but not a major game-breaker in terns of 'OMG, GOTTA PLAY'. They add unpredictability, but are also at the same time, a little predictable. If that sounds wierd, it is, but its true.

Most of what you've said here i agree with but you're p off about a lot of stuff about rift. i'll grant you a lot of the stuff about genericness and formulaic class design, but the raiding is incredible, probably the best on the market. there's absolute shittons of endgame content and they've added it at an unprecedented speed. there's six traditional instanced raids (this is six months after release) and countless raid rifts, and i think 16 high tier open world rifts that require a competent raid to complete

the end-game raiding content in rift is decadent and bountiful

Masked Gentleman

Thanks for all the suggestions, guys! I had already heard of a few of these, but others are new to me. They certainly sound like fun!

Elimination

Riale wrote:

If you've enjoyed any previous Bioware games such as the Mass Effect or KOTOR series I can't recommend The Old Republic highly enough. It's essentially another classic Bioware game, except massively multiplayer. Of course, this is also contigent on how much of a Star Wars fan you are. Either way, the addition of story to the tired MMO formula has completely spoiled me. Since playing SWTOR I don't think I could handle going back to playing any other MMO. Without the attachment of story, it's just not the same.

I cant second this enough times. SWTOR is unlike any other MMO i've ever played. It takes the formula and really puts an emphasis on the RPG aspect. It's fantastic, and now that I have played it I just cant go back to the other MMO's, they just aren't good enough after this experience.

lowlylowlycook

Also if you want a story and don't want to pay for Old Republic, you could always give LOTRO a try.

Joshmvii

Just play TOR. Seriously. I have played every MMO that has ever come out basically, and TOR has taken it to another level entirely. I think the only way you wouldn't feel this way is if you're somebody who doesn't care at all about having a cool story, but if you're looking for this type of game, I have to imagine you have some RPG background.

Dr_Keenbean

If you do play TOR, come to the dark side.

It is your destiny. I have foreseen it!

buddylee

Fandyien wrote:

buddylee wrote:

Here's mine:

for superheroes, like Cyber said, COX and / or DCUO are both good F2P options. Of the two, COX has much more to do, and I think the villain side is more interesting than the hero side, as well. The DCUO environments are amazing, however. Gotham (and Metropolis) are just so well done. Unlike COX, you earn your costume more through gameplay drops than at character creation. Between the two, I feel more heroic (able to kick booty) in COX. My Force Field/Energy Blast Defender (don't laugh) honestly can kick out some decent damage, take on ungodly amounts of foes, and still walk away (reality check: it DID take a lot of work, "gear" and leveling). in DC i feel heroic, but not cosmic. If that makes sense.

for fantasy, i recommend EQ2 (as a paying customer, but you can check it out for free these days). Literally so much to do: dungeons, raids, crafting (the good kind, I like it), collection hunts, exploration, questing (often with good dialog trees), house decorations, RP (depends on server), etc. More content than you can experience in one shot. Huge world. Large numbers of classes interesting classes, etc. Go Antonia Bayle server (RP server) or Freeport server (former F2P server) for good populations and friendly people.

Also, RIFT is pretty good and nice to look at, but once you finish the ride up to 50, its all grinding for raid gear, and not in a good way, as you are limited to a small handful of dungeons. PvP is in permaflux, so if that's your thing, run with a pre-made or don't bother at all. The other thing about RIFT that bothers me is that because you can swap roles and abilities so freely, you just feel a bit generic. There is very little flavor, fun or utility in the classes (ie, levitate, water breathing, glowing aura, feign death, tracking, run speed, safe fall, stealth, etc). Its there, but in tiny small portions. It all ends up feeling rather generic (or so I felt on my 44 rogue). Also RIFT lacks other thigns I like, such as guild halls/housing, but they do have collections, and they also have the 'chaos' of the RIFTs, which are fun, but not a major game-breaker in terns of 'OMG, GOTTA PLAY'. They add unpredictability, but are also at the same time, a little predictable. If that sounds wierd, it is, but its true.

Most of what you've said here i agree with but you're p off about a lot of stuff about rift. i'll grant you a lot of the stuff about genericness and formulaic class design, but the raiding is incredible, probably the best on the market. there's absolute shittons of endgame content and they've added it at an unprecedented speed. there's six traditional instanced raids (this is six months after release) and countless raid rifts, and i think 16 high tier open world rifts that require a competent raid to complete

the end-game raiding content in rift is decadent and bountiful

Fandy, more than willing to concede to your experience with raiding end-game. I only did it on my 50 mage and I found it initially fun, but then it wore on me. But it sounds like you have more experience with it than I, so good to hear another opinion

Joshmvii

Based on my experience with Rift which was only about halfway up to the level cap, I don't believe for a second that the raid content is as good as WoW. The gameplay just couldn't support that premise to me. The combat was too unresponsive. That being said, I didn't do it, so this is purely an opinion based on extrapolation and not experience. Either way I'm in TOR having the purest glory available now.

buddylee

I want a second MMO for when my EQ2 guild is asleep. Something I can solo or find lots of Aussies and night owls.

Anyone want to sell me on TOR? I got touched in bad places by Tabula Rasa and SWG, not sure about SciFi MMOs any more.

Joshmvii

If you love Bioware games in general, KotOR, Mass Effect, or MMOs in general you will fall in love with TOR. You don't have to love all these, even one of them would probably be enough. I am working right now or I would literally type you like 10 paragraphs that barely scratch the surface of why you should play it, and we don't even know each other. That's how much I want to share this game with others.

buddylee

Thanks Josh. If you ever have the time, I've got the ears.

Fandyien

Joshmvii wrote:

Based on my experience with Rift which was only about halfway up to the level cap, I don't believe for a second that the raid content is as good as WoW. The gameplay just couldn't support that premise to me. The combat was too unresponsive. That being said, I didn't do it, so this is purely an opinion based on extrapolation and not experience. Either way I'm in TOR having the purest glory available now.

Having raided extensively in both I can say that, without question, the crazy flexibility of the RIFT class design and the lessons they learned from WoW and it's years of trials by fire in the raid world gave them the resources to make the best traditional raiding i can imagine

someone else from the rift thread should pipe in here

but the mechanics, bosses, loot-acquisition design, and pretty much everything is deffo derivative but it's also the height of the mmo raiding scene. look at some of the fights from Hammerknell/Rise of the Phoenix are truly incredible

the levelling part of the game is basically a saltine with the nutella that is class design spread on it, generic but nonetheless delicious

that was a bad metaphor

instead, i'll let these speak for rift and it's raiding-

this one is an open-world zone event that requires a raid to complete


these are both hammerknell screenshots, the highest tier raid in game right now. the first is a room where you fight a giant worm buried over yonder, the second is from mid-fight of the third (depending on the order you do it) boss there, who has some seriously cool (if complex and difficult) mechanics that make it oh so satisfying to finally kill bosses

Joshmvii

That's good to hear, and it makes me glad for people who are playing Rift. I really dug the class design of the game and stuff, it just felt too unresponsive and clunky and drove me back to WoW before I could even get to the level cap when it came out.

buddylee

One thing to keep in mind, RIFT is still in its (relative) infancy. A plus I'll give for raiding is that starting with the lowbie dungeons, the boss encounters (ie, Iron Tomb, or Darkening Deeps) taught from an early level various raid mechanics so that by the time you hit level cap and have to start your Master Dungeons, T1s, T2s, you already had a good primer on what to expect for raid mechanics.

Masked Gentleman

Joshmvii wrote:

Just play TOR. Seriously. I have played every MMO that has ever come out basically, and TOR has taken it to another level entirely. I think the only way you wouldn't feel this way is if you're somebody who doesn't care at all about having a cool story, but if you're looking for this type of game, I have to imagine you have some RPG background.

Haha, I certainly do have an RPG background. It seems that a lot of people are strongly suggesting SW:TOR. I had actually been interested in that, but the only thing is... I'm not a HUGE Star Wars fan. I've watched the movies and enjoyed them, but that's pretty much the extent of my experience with Star Wars. No comics, no books, and no games except for the first Battlefront when I was younger. Would you still recommend this game to someone like me?

Madpoet

My Star Wars experience is watching the movies (well, MOST of Empire) and reading one short story where Boba Fett escapes the Sarlacc pit, which was utterly retarded. My fiancee fell asleep through most of the movies and thinks Wookies live on Endor. We're both having a blast w/ SWTOR. Combat doesn't innovate past anything WoW did (except the cover mechanic for smug/agents maybe), but it's fairly well polished, and there's lots of satisfying animations. It shines in the quest system, which manages to get a full and unique Bioware RPG into each class' storylines, as well as "kill 10 rat" quests with coherent plots. They still have a ways to go on class balance and a LONG way to go on tradeskill balance, but for a new game they're in a good place.

We're also picking up GW2 on release - since there's no sub, we can play it at our pace, and it looks to be a good step forward in mmo combat design. FASTER NCSOFT!

buddylee

How well do Jedi consulars/sages or whatever, suck? I like support classes who can solo a bit. Is there room to feel good about that class?

Bobble

Masked Gentleman wrote:

Joshmvii wrote:

Just play TOR. Seriously. I have played every MMO that has ever come out basically, and TOR has taken it to another level entirely. I think the only way you wouldn't feel this way is if you're somebody who doesn't care at all about having a cool story, but if you're looking for this type of game, I have to imagine you have some RPG background.

Haha, I certainly do have an RPG background. It seems that a lot of people are strongly suggesting SW:TOR. I had actually been interested in that, but the only thing is... I'm not a HUGE Star Wars fan. I've watched the movies and enjoyed them, but that's pretty much the extent of my experience with Star Wars. No comics, no books, and no games except for the first Battlefront when I was younger. Would you still recommend this game to someone like me?

My Star Wars background is just like yours, and I cannot get enough of TOR. I mean, by all means I love the sound it makes when I whip out my lightsaber (:winky:), but it's not like I was waiting in line when the prequels were released (didn't even see 'em in theaters). To be honest, TOR has pulled me into the SW universe in a way that the movies never did.

Elvenshae

Every character has companions, so even if you're playing as a healer, you can bring a tank companion or a damage-dealing companion and fight with them and clean up.

Everyone can solo well.

And Sages are regarded as really good healers or damagers, depending on the way in which they spend their talent points.

EDIT:

In case you don't know, Jedi Consular is a "base class." At 10th-level, everyone gets to pick an "Advanced Class," which is what will define you for the rest of the game. Consulars can become Shadows, who use double-bladed lightsabers, get stealth abilities, and can spend their talent points to be a tank or a damage-dealing class; or they can become Sages, who use single-bladed lightsabers, get a huge mana pool, and can spend their talent points to be a healer or a damage-dealing class.

Bobble

buddylee wrote:

How well do Jedi consulars/sages or whatever, suck? I like support classes who can solo a bit. Is there room to feel good about that class?

I have a sorcerer (mirror class to Jedi consular), and it's just a great big ball of murder. So much lightning. So much.

buddylee

Fantastic. Thanks. Seems like I'll pick this up for my side game. I like the way the class mechanics sound. And the companion thing, like the EQ2 mercenaries, seems to be made for late night gamers like me. Also, lightning goodness.

Elvenshae

Note that Jedi Consulars, being nominally good guys, do not get Lightning. Instead, they rip things out of the ground and throw them at their enemies.

Corehealer

Elvenshae wrote:

Note that Jedi Consulars, being nominally good guys, do not get Lightning. Instead, they rip things out of the ground and throw them at their enemies.

Rocks do not come from steel floors. I haven't seen much of that since beta though.

I'm too tired tonight from flying to go into my usual in depth explanation of MMOs to try, but for sure give ToR a try if you want to see a few different playstyles done well in a great RPG experience. Give GW2 a look as next year is looking like when it will be coming down the pipe to our eager embrace, as it will have a decent amount of RPG elements mixed in with awesome combat and a new take on the public quest system. WoW still has a lot of value in it especially with the new raids and Transmog system which takes away the age old clown suit, making it optional. Aion and a few other Eastern style MMOs are going strong in the old quest and raid vein. LOTRO is still a fantastic RPG experience in Tolkien's masterpiece that just recently went psuedo-F2P.

The MMO genre is definitely entering a new phase of new games coming to fill old and new niches in the industry and not so much competing with WoW as attempting to find success living next to it in a time when WoW is growing older and losing a bit of it's push. Stick with any of the big new titles and you can't go wrong.

Feldorn

Lord of the Rings Online is a decent MMO to check out. There is a fairly active PA guild on the Landroval server as well. decent mix of classes, and it does a great job of setting that Tolkien feeling.

went F2P a few months ago which basically lets you get to around lvl 30 for free w/o too many restrictions.

Turambar

Masked Gentleman wrote:

Joshmvii wrote:

Just play TOR. Seriously. I have played every MMO that has ever come out basically, and TOR has taken it to another level entirely. I think the only way you wouldn't feel this way is if you're somebody who doesn't care at all about having a cool story, but if you're looking for this type of game, I have to imagine you have some RPG background.

Haha, I certainly do have an RPG background. It seems that a lot of people are strongly suggesting SW:TOR. I had actually been interested in that, but the only thing is... I'm not a HUGE Star Wars fan. I've watched the movies and enjoyed them, but that's pretty much the extent of my experience with Star Wars. No comics, no books, and no games except for the first Battlefront when I was younger. Would you still recommend this game to someone like me?

Having watched the movies is plenty
(Though if you like RPGs then I highly recommend you head over to the Steam Holiday Sale and snag KotOR, one of the best RPGs ever)

It's not like you need a degree in Warcraft to play WoW
Most WoW players probably haven't even heard of the RTS games or the books

Masked Gentleman

Bobble wrote:

Masked Gentleman wrote:

Joshmvii wrote:

Just play TOR. Seriously. I have played every MMO that has ever come out basically, and TOR has taken it to another level entirely. I think the only way you wouldn't feel this way is if you're somebody who doesn't care at all about having a cool story, but if you're looking for this type of game, I have to imagine you have some RPG background.

Haha, I certainly do have an RPG background. It seems that a lot of people are strongly suggesting SW:TOR. I had actually been interested in that, but the only thing is... I'm not a HUGE Star Wars fan. I've watched the movies and enjoyed them, but that's pretty much the extent of my experience with Star Wars. No comics, no books, and no games except for the first Battlefront when I was younger. Would you still recommend this game to someone like me?

My Star Wars background is just like yours, and I cannot get enough of TOR. I mean, by all means I love the sound it makes when I whip out my lightsaber (:winky:), but it's not like I was waiting in line when the prequels were released (didn't even see 'em in theaters). To be honest, TOR has pulled me into the SW universe in a way that the movies never did.

I see wut you did thar. (:winky:)

GnomeTank

Thirding (fourthing? fifthing?) SW:TOR. It brings something to the table that no other MMO has to date, not even LoTRO (which is considered the best story MMO up to this point): Engaging story elements that vary (greatly) by class and are completely voice acted. You could play SW:TOR as purely an RPG and it would still be a good game, completely ignoring the social MMO part.

Avynte

If you want to shoot and blow things up, give World of Tanks a try.

If you're into stories and cut scenes, play SWToR

If you love crafting and exploring with an FPS bent, check out Fallen Earth.

If you crave hardcore pvp and an unforgiving world, there's always Eve.

Kadoken

Age of Conan if you like boobs and decapitations, which don't actually decapitate (In my experience). Also a little better melee fantasy combat. Also if you're a fan of the 80's Conan movies, which is the biggest reason I played it.

Syrionus

Masked Gentleman wrote:

Bobble wrote:

Masked Gentleman wrote:

Joshmvii wrote:

Just play TOR. Seriously. I have played every MMO that has ever come out basically, and TOR has taken it to another level entirely. I think the only way you wouldn't feel this way is if you're somebody who doesn't care at all about having a cool story, but if you're looking for this type of game, I have to imagine you have some RPG background.

Haha, I certainly do have an RPG background. It seems that a lot of people are strongly suggesting SW:TOR. I had actually been interested in that, but the only thing is... I'm not a HUGE Star Wars fan. I've watched the movies and enjoyed them, but that's pretty much the extent of my experience with Star Wars. No comics, no books, and no games except for the first Battlefront when I was younger. Would you still recommend this game to someone like me?

My Star Wars background is just like yours, and I cannot get enough of TOR. I mean, by all means I love the sound it makes when I whip out my lightsaber (:winky:), but it's not like I was waiting in line when the prequels were released (didn't even see 'em in theaters). To be honest, TOR has pulled me into the SW universe in a way that the movies never did.

I see wut you did thar. (:winky:)

You know guys, I am definately one to say that TOR is pretty awesome but I really feel the need to voice a concern. I am worried that the end game experience isn't going to be all that great. It's definately fun to play so far but I am finding it hard for my healer to regain force. Which means I run out very fast. I am only level 20 on my Inquisitor so maybe there are some skills to help alliviate this problem but I am not sure it's going to live up to it. Anyway, my fondest endgame experience is with WoW. More specifically around the times of Burning Crusade. Lich King was cool but not at the level of BC. Anyway, if they do well with the endgame stuff, it will get a two thumbs up and a high waistband buldge from me.

Avynte

If you're on the fence, I'd let TOR sit for 3-6 months so the kinks can get worked out. There's a ton of little glitches and lack of polish that I'm willing to overlook because of my rabid love for star wars.

Axen

Avynte wrote:

If you're on the fence, I'd let TOR sit for 3-6 months so the kinks can get worked out. There's a ton of little glitches and lack of polish that I'm willing to overlook because of my rabid love for star wars.

I'd still suggest TOR myself. I'm not a rabid Star Wars fan, I enjoy it true, but I also enjoy many other things just as much.

The game has a few kinks and such, but honestly it is easily one of the best launches I've seen.

On top of that the game is amazing. True, its still your standard MMO combat/setup, but everything about the game is so well done. The whole time I've been playing I haven't felt like it was an MMO (and not for lack of other players), it feels more like another Bioware RPG. Bioware has certainly set the bar exceedingly high for MMOs and unless a game does something particularly niche-y like EVE, Fallen Earth, or Planetside I just don't think I could go back to your bog standard MMO now.

Megamaniaco

Tried TOR beta, got bored.
Nowadays I mostly play DCUO, the combat is so quick-paced that it is hard to go on automatic mode (as I did with WoW), hitting 1, 2, 4, 1, 2, 5...ad infinitum.

SCREECH OF THE FARG

if you want to play a wow type mmo, the best wow on the market is currently RIFT, followed by SWTOR

if you like shooting, maybe try Planetside? I think thats still running. I also recommend EVE

Syrionus

SCREECH OF THE FARG wrote:

if you want to play a wow type mmo, the best wow on the market is currently RIFT, followed by SWTOR

if you like shooting, maybe try Planetside? I think thats still running. I also recommend EVE

I played Rift for a whole 4 months and it isn't as good as WoW. It has similarities and in some areas is done better but it got boring fast. Personally, I still prefer WoW for the most part but I am liking TOR. TOR is like, as someone previously pointed out, playing a single player game and seeing other people running around doing things. They have Flashpoints (Dungeons) and Operations (Raids). Anyway, to sum it up, it's like KoTOR, WoW, and Mass Effect had a baby.